Pages

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Best Teff Sandwich Bread Recipe

After countless batches of teff bread that sagged, deflated, or didn't rise, I finally came up with the perfect recipe for a gluten-free whole grain sandwich bread. I learned quite a few things about bread making in the process of developing this recipe that I'd like to share with you. The success of a gluten-free bread depends on these essential baking elements:

the correct ratio of salt, yeast, and sugar to flour

the correct ratio of xanthan gum to liquid and flours

accurate measurements, including temperature

and the most important thing, and the one it took me longest to discover, is:

a hefty amount of acid in the mix.

I learned about the ratios of salt and sugar to yeast from reading the Joy of Cooking and other reference books. What I didn't learn until now is the role of acid in bread making. It turns out that yeast performs better in an acidic environment. All the commercially-available bread mixes that I've been trying out have had vinegar and ascorbic acid in them. Adding a lot more apple cider to my existing recipe made it a whole lot better. The acid not only gives the bread quite a bit more volume but it also acts as a dough conditioner to give the bread a sturdy yet flexible structure and a better crust.

You can use this as a template to create your own recipe. Just substitute your flours by weight and keep the ratios the same. I measure the weights in metric because it's a little more straight-forward. Weighing the flour is much more accurate, but if you must use dry measures then all the flours together should be about three cups.

345g (1.5 cups) water at 110 degrees F
6g (1 Tbsp) yeast
Set aside in a warm place while you mix the other ingredients. It should sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is dissolved and the water becomes opaque.

Beat the dough until smooth and completely mixed. Oil or grease a sandwich bread pan. Pullman loaf pans with really high sides give you bigger slices.

Cover the pan with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes. In the meantime, heat the oven to 375. Once the bread has risen, bake in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour. The internal temperature should reach 200 degrees. Let cool on a drying rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy your teff bread with butter or use it as a sandwich. Either way it's delicious!

L'actrice, a natural foods store should have it. Find a place that sells a good selection of Bob's Red Mill flours and you should be able to find a certified GF teff flour. You can also buy it online here: http://www.bobsredmill.com/teff-flour.html

FooFooBerry - The butter can definitely be subbed out for regular vegetable oil. I actually used olive oil in making the loaf that's pictured. As for the egg replacer, I'm not sure yet. I haven't started trying to create my vegan version of this teff bread yet. Let me know if you try something that works!

Nancy - Thanks for the comments! I like how the texture turned out. I hope you like it! Let me know how it turns out.

Erika K - You're welcome! I also tried looking up a bunch of recipes before trying my own, but it took a long time to get all the information I needed to make the loaf rise properly. I'd love it if you got back to me with what you came up with. Thanks for the comments!

I have a great recipe that contains teff flour as well. I love using teff flour, it's so healthy I even put it in peanut butter cookies to give a little extra fiber. Here is a link to my recipe http://troysnewstart.blogspot.com/2012/04/delicious-whole-grain-gluten-free.htmlThank you for sharing!!

AmyT - honey is perfect for this bread. Just substitute the 2T honey for the 2T sugar. Any other natural sweetener would work as well: agave, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc. The yeast just needs a little sugar to start its fermentation process, but it's not picky about the source.

Made this last night and it turned out perfect!!!! Hubby & kid loved it too. That says a lot cuz hubby normally only likes extra soft store bought bread. He said this might be THE recipe. I subbed rice flour for sorghum and coconut for potato. Awesome texture- soft! prob needs only 30 -40 minutes cooking in electric oven. I did it at 350 too.

I'm glad you liked the bread! I think the reduced baking time that you experienced is due to the coconut flour, which has a LOT more fiber than other flours and absorbs more water. A drier dough will bake faster. I'm glad it turned out! Thanks for trying the recipe and for commenting, too!

Igilderhus - I haven't tried flax seed with this recipe yet, but I'm getting good results with it on other breads. I bet it would be great! I really need to try it with this Teff bread recipe too. I haven't tried sunflower seeds, but I've been using a combination of flax and chia seeds. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

Dear Gina, Your bread sure does look good. I would like to try it, but I don't have a scale to measure the flours (that you have listed in grams). Do you know what the equivalent measurements for the flour in cups?

You know, Clint, I just never use volume measurements for flour in recipes any more. It's just too unreliable! Even the grind of the flour can change its volume measurement. I could never get any consistency with my recipes before I got a good kitchen scale. That scale has been well worth it. In addition to being more accurate and consistent, it's much faster to measure by weight.

However, if you want to experiment, start with this: The teff and sorghum are quite a bit heavier than the starches. From my notes, I'd guess it's about:

Hello Gina your bread looks absolutely delicious! Now that I have added eggs back in my diet and plan on defintely trying your recipe! The funny thing is, I have tried basically all the gluten free flours but not Teff for some weird reason. What does it taste/smell like? Does it have a strong flavour like quinoa does? Also, have you ever tried it using a little less starch? I am really glad you used the scale. I really think anyone doing gluten free baking should own one. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. :-) I will let you know how it turned out once I make it. Cheers Farzana

Sorry, its Farzana again . . I was just thinking, is it active dry yeast or instant? Cuz the instant can be mixed into the dry, it doesnt need to be proofed. Maybe there is a reason you did it or maybe you used active dry yeast? Please do tell. thx

Teff flour has a distinctive flavor, but it is not at all like quinoa. It's nutty and strong. I really like it, and this recipe pairs it with flours that mellow it out a little. If you're cautious about it you can use more sorghum and less teff. Using less starch will make it more dense - too dense for my taste - and it won't rise as well. This recipe is not very starchy compared to most other GF bread recipes.

I use Red Star Quick-rise Yeast. It's GF and it seems to work best for GF bread, which is more reluctant to rise. I tried putting the dry yeast in with the flours with this recipe, but I got better results proofing the yeast. If you decide to try putting the yeast in the dry ingredients, you will have better luck if you beat the dough for a long time, preferably in a stand mixer.

The dough should be about like a thick muffin batter. Thanks for your comments!

I don't agree with your use of Xanthan Gum. , Xanthan Gum is a synthesized compound (the last part of the synthesis requires it be dried with Isopropanol) . It is from China which has been pushed into the USA for the past 2 years and it has an MSDS which states it , has heavy metals , . You should substitute the Xanthan Gum for an equal amount of Knox Gelatin. It is much safer and won't change your DNA.

SciResearcher - I no longer rely so heavily on xanthan gum in my baking. Since this recipe was published there have been some people, most notably Gluten-free Girl, who have complained of sensitivity to xanthan gum. Furthermore, I have found other binders to be more effective and to lend a better texture to the product. See some more of my bread recipes here: http://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/p/bread.html

I haven't tried gelatin in my bread recipes, but I have seen several recipes that do. The author of the Gluten-free Gourmet series of books used gelatin pretty regularly for making bread. I don't include it in my recipes because it is not vegetarian, and I cook for vegetarians often. I typically use psyllium husk instead.

Sarah - Thanks for the comment! I've played around with fruit pectin in bread recipes. I am not sure that it would have the binding power to substitute for xanthan gum by itself, but I've used it with flax and chia seeds with good results. If there's a recipe out there with pectin that you think I should check out, let me know!

I just wanted to post the cup conversion using the gram measurments on my Bob Red mill bags of flour.1 1/4 cup teff flour3/4 cup sorghum flour1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch6 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon potato starchI hope this helps anyone that does not have a gram scale like me. I look forward to trying this bread. The only thing I have made with teff are some waffles and I loved them.

Anonymous - I haven't used guar gum, but I understand that it's not as strong as Xanthan gum. I would think that you should use a bit more, but I don't know how much. It would be an experiment. Let us know your results!

Gina. I just wanted to thank you for this teff recipe. I've been looking for something like this for a long time. Teff is the super grain of super grains, is apparently very easy and economic to grow and could conceivably replace wheat use around the world (that is if the powers that be allow it).Anyway, I do have a question. My wife is very sensitive to, of all things, tapioca. Is there a good substitute for tapioca that won't ruin the recipe? Eric J. Cohen, D.C.

Eric - Thanks for your comment! I haven't tried any tapioca substitutions, but I have a friend who can't do tapioca. I suggested she try any other starch instead, and she has had good success with that. I'd be curious to see if arrowroot starch would be good, or just plain corn starch. The results won't be exactly the same, but I don't think you can really go too wrong subbing out the tapioca for something similar.

Just tried this tonight. My scale died so I had to calculate grams into tsp, tbsp and cups. Worked so well and rose so high that I'm not sure I'll be able to get it out f the oven with out running into the coils. Going to let it cool in the oven and next time, I drop the rack down!

I'm so glad you liked the recipe and it turned out for you! If you'd like to share your measurements Im sure there will be someone else who will benefit from your experience. But by all means, make sure the rack is lowered for your next loaf! :)

This is being sent on a new program that may well be the spawn of the devil [and I don't believe in any devil.] My comments disappear--hard to say if they're sent 10,000 times or floating cyberspace. If Unknown would share the calculation of grams into liquid measure, as a math impaired person, I'd be eternally grateful [for at least a few weeks.] Teff is one of my favorites and this recipe looks wonder full. Thank you Gina Kelly, and thank you Unknown. You make a difference.

Hi Gina - I would like to try to bake this teff bread - as I love teff flour. I do not have a Pullman bake pan - so I thought I would buy one. I clicked on the Pullman pan link in your recipe - and it took me to Amazon. In the description it is for a 13 x 4 Pullman pan. Is that right?? I was expecting the 9 x 4 size. Can you advise me to the right size pan? Thank you for ALL your WONDERFUL recipes and effort you give to this blog/site.